I don’t know exactly what to make of this just yet, but I do know that I didn’t like living in a world where Elmo was accused of sex crimes. Let’s chalk this one up as a positive, to the extent anything involving accusations of improper sexual behavior and someone’s reputation being dragged through the mud can end up being “positive.”

UPDATE: The NYT now has the full write-up, which points out that TMZ was the first outlet to run the story, and closes with this nice little shot to the ribs of the gossip site’s top banana:

Harvey Levin, the editor of TMZ, did not respond to a request for comment about its decision to run with the unproven allegations of underage sex.

So let me ask you this: between the Elmo guy, the Big Bird guy, Bert & Ernie, and Ken Burns, is all of PBS just a big gay mafia? It’s cool if that’s the case, but I had a great idea for a kids’ show and I need to know if I’d be wasting my time taking it there instead of the ultra-hetero Noggin.

look, i know in the eyes of the law if it’s technically a minor than it’s not “consensual”. but was anyone in their right mind really assuming that the 16 year old wasn’t capable of consent? i mean, i guess i just figured all along the little shithead knew what he was doing and is just a moneygrubbing fuck.

If I were Clash, I’d sue for defamation. It’s unlikely he’ll be coming back now that the world knows he’s into dudes. There’s no way the right-wing will shutup about him working with kids even though he hasn’t done anything wrong. I hope the showrunners don’t cave. I realize they can get someone else to play Elmo or scrap him altogether, but they’d be losing a really talented puppeteer.

I think it’s great how you can accuse somebody of a heinous act, defaming that persons character in the process, then turn around and be all “oops, my bad. I forgot I really was a consenting adult” and still remain anonymous. Fuck our legal system.